On Friday, Spain’s Audiencia Nacional decided the U.S. request to extradite Joseph James O’Connor, 23, satisfies the country’s extradition rules.
The Spanish government must now approve O’Connor’s extradition. He can appeal the decision.
Authorities arrested O’Connor, aka “PlugwalkJoe,” in southern Spain’s Costa del Sol in July 2021, at U.S. request. He faces 14 charges including allegations that he helped seize control of 130 Twitter accounts, including ones used by Joseph Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Elon Musk; extorted individuals via social networking; and perpetrated internet-facilitated robberies.
O’Connor sought to have the extradition request dismissed by arguing that his case should be tried in Spain, where the servers used to perpetuate his alleged crimes are located. He also contended Spain would be a better venue because computer crime offenses in the United States incur disproportionate sentences.
In its decision published Friday, National High Court judges disagreed on both fronts.
The court said the Justice Department’s documentation of crimes allegedly committed by O’Connor was voluminous and detailed. Because no criminal charges have been filed against the suspect in Spain, “the United States is in a better position to prosecute the facts since the evidence obtained in the investigation is found there and because it is the place where the damage has been caused,” they wrote.
About the question of potentially disproportionate U.S. sentencing guidelines for computer crimes, the court said it is not within its purview to review another country’s penalties.
According to documentation provided to the Spanish court by U.S. prosecutors, charges against O’Connor include “hacking the Snapchat account of a public figure whom he tried to extort and harass by thre ..
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